Need advice and ?

kerry4 said:
You will get all different opinions here. Does it depend on your budget? If you want to go full out like me I had the full car PPF'd and then ceramic on top of the PPF and interior and wheels and rotors, and window tints and headlights @15%. I still say PPF is the best protection you can do. I did it on my 7 year old Harley CVO and not one stone chip on it. My wife says I have to keep this car for longer than two years. Thats usually when I get bored with a car and trade it. Not this car. I love it. Get compliments all the time. Some have said my car glows and ask what I did to it? It's also very important to get a good shop with references from other customers when you are spending that kind of coin on a car and how their warranty is on materials and labour. We This picture was taken on a cloudy day. In the sun it's incredible.
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Very Nice Kerry. The cost isn't concerning, but still like to know if it is a fair price. Unfortunately here in the Windsor area I seem to be limited to one shop that does the PPF. Debating on checking out ones in Kitchener where the car dealership is that I am going through.
 
SONSH1NE said:
Have you had this done? If so what did you pay?
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Done Sept 21. I bought the car in April 2020 with 4000 kms. Waited too long and got a paint chip on bumper.

C7. Front bumper, fenders, mirrors, headlights, rear air intakes (not hood as I thought). $900 + tax in ON. Derand Motorsport in Ottawa. Recommended by members of the Ottawa Corvette Club. Great craftsmanship, XPEL product. Very satisfied. You have the corvettedepot.ca in Windsor. Call and ask - they might be able to recommend a PPF installer.
 
SONSH1NE said:
Very Nice Kerry. The cost isn't concerning, but still like to know if it is a fair price. Unfortunately here in the Windsor area I seem to be limited to one shop that does the PPF. Debating on checking out ones in Kitchener where the car dealership is that I am going through.
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Waterloo is next to Kitchener. They are the only people I would trust with my cars. They are always busy which is a good indication that they are professionals. Give them a shout if you want. Tell them Kerry sent you. They know me and my Orange Vette. I paid $6,000.00 for prep work paint correction and full PPF and windows tinted. The ceramic coating is done by Andre who is in the shop beside him. Did the whole car and the interior and wheels and rotors for $1,000.00 Very clean shops and do great work.

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canadianvetster said:
70% on the rear window?
I guess no engine dress up options for you.
PPF is the way to go to protect against road hazards.
Ceramic coating really brings out the shine due, in part, to a paint correction process to improve the gloss finish
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Sorry my bad 17% on the rear window.
 
Cariboocreek said:
I did full car Expel Ultimate. Followed by full ceramic including wheels. I also did Clearplex wrap on the windshield and full ceramic coating of the white interior. Finished it off with 35% tint on side windows and 17% on the rear window on my coupe.

I live in Alberta and that should explain all the PPF…..You don't want to know what it cost me….FYI Thanks Renee…
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Your rear hatch window or the rear interior window behind the seats....
 
butsy said:
Regarding PPF and / or Ceramic?? I was like you and didn't really know what the difference was by the sounds of your question....Once you read and understand the purpose of both, then you can decide what is important and get 1 of them done if you you think it's worth it as the outcome is totally different for both.....Once I tried to educate myself by reading about both, I'm not going with Ceramic as I can apply some sort of wax to my car myself.....I am however interested in Paint protection from stone chips etc, so I'm thinking about doing PPF once my C8 comes in, but probably only on the front bumper / hood and mirrors.....but at the end of the day, it's all about what you want and how much $$ you want to spend...
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I did the door sills as well on my C7 and glad I did. Protects from the dragging feet when you get in and out.
 
harshadt said:
I suggest the PPF be done- as others have said it’s a protective extra layer. Ceramic coating is purely for ease of cleaning. I didn’t do it, but I do use a ceramic spray in the spring and it lasts the driving season. Cost $30 for 3 years worth.
For the engine break in stuff- it’s all in the manual
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Hi
What ceramic spray do you use and where to find it?
Thanks
 
OFS1979 said:
Hi
What ceramic spray do you use and where to find it?
Thanks
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I’ve used this one below which works well and is about $30 at Cdn Tire and Amazon. I’m going to try The Chemical Guys version this year.
 

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As usual I am late to this conversation but will "chip" in:

PPF protects paint while ceramic coat aids in cleaning.

I had a 2005 MB SLK350 that I bought new and had 3M "Clearbra" installed at dealership. Fifteen years later in 2020 I removed the plastic film. The film had slightly yellowed (that problem has been solved). The film had many slices, scrapes chips in it and was difficult to remove because of the scrapes, however, under the film, the paint was showroom perfect. So perfect that the dealerships thought it was a much newer model and gave me a phenomenal trade-in price.

When my C8 arrived I had no doubt I was going to get Xpel installed and the only decision was how much of the car to cover. In the end full coverage was not that much more than partial and I knew from C4 Coupe that taking roof on and off could lead to scratches so went full coverage. I also tend to keep cars a long time so amortized over say 10 years its about $400/year.

It's really difficult to estimate cost of PPF because a lot of the cost is in paint correction and installation. Some cars don't need much and some colors will show up any small scratch. Rapid Blue shows any defect/chip because the car is white underneath. Take your car to the PPF Installer who will have bodyshop lights that show how much correction is needed. Mine needed a lot.

I have had my car at a few Corvette shows and honestly cannot tell which ones had ceramic and which did not. My opinion is that ceramic coat aids in cleaning but I am not convince the "shine" is better. Of course you still need to wash the car when dirty so frequency of washing is not reduced. I find the dirtiest area is the tail end around grill and taillights.

Most ceramic coatings require a yearly maintenance and that is significant work/cost. My decision was to try a DIY hybrid wax/ceramic General PDP Template They now offer a graphene wax but I have not tried.

The DIY ceramic wax was easy to apply. Washing is still washing so not much better but drying is about 1/4 the time. An application seems to last about 4 months so for me that's twice a season. One container has lasted me 5 coats.

Re: exhaust sound you can select the exhaust volume and customize in some drive modes.
Re: RPM No. The engine rpm is not affected during the first 800km its just a change to the tach settings and some shift points. The 1500km note is to ensure full break-in before tracking/launching.
 
I think PPF would be good for me, because, for once, I intend keeping this car for a while. I appreciate all your comments and advice, thank you. I am reading the book and looking at videos on YouTube, so lots of answers there. Here is hoping for a short winter.
 
gdb069 said:
As usual I am late to this conversation but will "chip" in:

PPF protects paint while ceramic coat aids in cleaning.

I had a 2005 MB SLK350 that I bought new and had 3M "Clearbra" installed at dealership. Fifteen years later in 2020 I removed the plastic film. The film had slightly yellowed (that problem has been solved). The film had many slices, scrapes chips in it and was difficult to remove because of the scrapes, however, under the film, the paint was showroom perfect. So perfect that the dealerships thought it was a much newer model and gave me a phenomenal trade-in price.

When my C8 arrived I had no doubt I was going to get Xpel installed and the only decision was how much of the car to cover. In the end full coverage was not that much more than partial and I knew from C4 Coupe that taking roof on and off could lead to scratches so went full coverage. I also tend to keep cars a long time so amortized over say 10 years its about $400/year.

It's really difficult to estimate cost of PPF because a lot of the cost is in paint correction and installation. Some cars don't need much and some colors will show up any small scratch. Rapid Blue shows any defect/chip because the car is white underneath. Take your car to the PPF Installer who will have bodyshop lights that show how much correction is needed. Mine needed a lot.

I have had my car at a few Corvette shows and honestly cannot tell which ones had ceramic and which did not. My opinion is that ceramic coat aids in cleaning but I am not convince the "shine" is better. Of course you still need to wash the car when dirty so frequency of washing is not reduced. I find the dirtiest area is the tail end around grill and taillights.

Most ceramic coatings require a yearly maintenance and that is significant work/cost. My decision was to try a DIY hybrid wax/ceramic General PDP Template They now offer a graphene wax but I have not tried.

The DIY ceramic wax was easy to apply. Washing is still washing so not much better but drying is about 1/4 the time. An application seems to last about 4 months so for me that's twice a season. One container has lasted me 5 coats.

Re: exhaust sound you can select the exhaust volume and customize in some drive modes.
Re: RPM No. The engine rpm is not affected during the first 800km its just a change to the tach settings and some shift points. The 1500km note is to ensure full break-in before tracking/launching.
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I had a 2016 C7 vert (bought new) in shark skin metallic. Did nothing to it for almost 6 years - traded it in on my C8. Paint was pristine - windshield tiny pitting from tiny grains of sand ( I guess) hitting it. My C8 - had a guy - rep from Adams apply graphene ceramic coating to my car including the windshield in my garage - had all the proper gear incl lighting. Next day he came back and applied graphene ceramic booster. Took delivery of my 2022 Oct. 2021 - so far - no marks anywhere. I applied the booster this winter while it sits in my garage. I have maybe washed the car once - the wheels and tires more often. Dust just comes off using a good microfiber cloth. The surface of the car is so smooth like glass. Driven it 5000 km only - so, does not get much road time. My son has an Audi SQ5 with PPF. Someone hit him and he had to get it fixed incl. PPF reapplied. Original not installed that well - not wrapped around edges far enough. Sop, key is to get a shop that does a good job and has lots of references. Good luck!! PPF + ceramic is probably the way to go.
 
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I haven't washed my car in two years. Just a detail spray especially for ceramic and a microfibre cloth. Easy peasy. I also had the windshield ceramic coated. Later I regretted it because I heard about Exoshield and wanted that done to my C8 to protect it from chips. They tried to do it but could not get all the ceramic coating off the windshield. They tried for hours before giving up. So that stuff sticks like glue. I'm already getting tiny chips. Likely just from sand or very tiny pebbles. Windshields aren't as strong as the older ones are. The hey make them thinner to keep the weight down. Not the price cause they are ridiculously priced to have one replaced.
 

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